Of Witches and Familiars
by RicardianScholar Clark-Weasley
Summary: Alya explains how folklore and history proves that Ladynoir is real. Marinette is just trying to not think about Chat while she does her math homework.


Marinette looked up from the algebra equations that she had been valiantly struggling with for the last hour to see that Alya had not even cracked a textbook open as she crouched over her mobile phone typing rapidly.

Marinette would be annoyed that she had been working her arse of while Alya clearly hadn't if it wasn't for the fact she desperately needed a distraction (maths really wasn't her strong suit and her head needed clearing before she blacked out from dizziness induced by difficult equations). So instead of coughing pointedly until Alya got back to work, Marinette eyed her with interest.

"What are you working on?" she asked curiously. "That doesn't look like homework."

"I'm working on a Meta for the Ladyblog," Alya replied absent-mindedly as she tapped out some more words. "One of my followers directed me to some interesting folklore."

"Oh?" Marinette leaned in with interest. Tiki as so vague and mysterious about her past that Marinette always found it fascinating when Alya pulled out some lore that could explain the history of her Miraculous. "What's the folklore about?"

These were obviously magic words as Alya suddenly looked up from her phone and stopped typing altogether. She pushed her glasses up her nose as an animated expression took over her face as she eagerly dived into her favourite topic in the world.

"Did you know," Alya burst out excitedly, "that ladybugs were thought of as witches?"

"No I didn't," Marinette said startled at the thought of a little red bug being considered a witch of all things, "were they really?"

"Oh yeah!" Alya grinned. "There's like this poem about it and everything. Someone pointed out this quote from a book on the blog _I was told by my mother when I was a little girl that ladybirds are little witches_. So I started researching ladybugs and their association with magic. There's a lot of stuff about the insects being associated with granting wishes and healing and pagan goddesses."

"So…" Marinette said slowly as she tried to absorb all of this in, "your Meta is on how Ladybug's powers could have been misinterpreted as witchcraft?"

Though if you ask Marinette witchcraft wasn't too far off the mark of what she could do as Ladybug. There might not be any cauldrons or potions or incantations but she was certainly using _magic_ to save Paris on a near weekly basis.

"Not really," Alya shrugged, "more how folklore and history totally support Ladynoir."

Marinette choked on her own saliva at that as she felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment. It was always so uncomfortable and embarrassing when Alya started shipping her and Chat together. Marinette always had to hold her tongue in case she accidentally blurted out something stupid. Not that Alya noticed. Which is a little insulting.

"You know that black cats are actually supposed to be good luck?" she asked.

" _Uh-huh_!" Marinette squeaked.

"Well their bad Luck reputation comes from being associated with witches," Alya carried on, "back in the medieval times all the witches were supposed to have been seen with a black animal. Sometimes a great big, black, dog, but more often than not it was a black cat and so gradually that changed the perception of black cats being good luck to them being a bringer of bad luck. _Anyway_ ," Alya slapped a hand on the table, "So I reckon this comes from someone seeing Ladybug and Chat Noir together back in the medieval times."

"That's a logical theory," Marinette replied, "

"I know, right?" Alya said smugly. "One of the charges of witchcraft was fornicating with the devil usually while he's disguised as an animal."

Marinette squeaked and flushed even more at the word _fornicating_.

"Now, knowing that Ladybug would have been viewed as a witch," Alya carried on, oblivious to Marinette sinking into her chair in embarrassment, "and that Chat Noir would definitely have ticked all those boxes as 'devil disguised as an animal', and knowing their hot, steamy, sexual tension."

Marinette squeaked even more at that. There was no _hot, steamy, sexual tension_ between her and Chat! They were just _friends!_

"There is no other conclusion to make other than that Ladybug and Chat Noir have been caught fornicating in the forests of almost every European country," Marinette sunk lower and lower in her seat as Alya's voice got louder and louder with excitement "which means….LADYNOIR IS **REAL** BITCHES!"

" _Shh_!"

Alya was instantly distracted as multiple people from the students to the Librarian suddenly hissed and glared at her. She sheepishly apologised as she slowly sank back into her seat and went back to working on her Meta quietly.

Marinette was thankful because she didn't want to explain to her best friend exactly why she had got scarlet red as she desperately tried to not think about Chat Noir and fornicating.

Unfortunately she was unable to shake off the mental picture of herself dressed as a Medieval peasant encountering a particularly flirtatious Chat who gently lowers her down to the forest floor, after some seriously heated kisses, and then he str –

Marinette groaned as she bashed her head against her maths book.

She wasn't going to be able to look her partner in the eye for weeks to come now!

Meanwhile on the other side of the bookcase nearest to Marinette and Alya, Adrien Agreste, who had heard every word, smiled. It didn't surprise him that people would have thought of Ladybug as some sort of witch.

After all he had been under her spell from the first moment he had met her.


End file.
